[PAP]

Unless anyone can come up with a small profile inwall speaker similar to these "virtually invisible Bose 191" speakers I'm afraid I'm going to have to buy them.


Background: we had originally spec'ed full size inwall speakers for our great room. Size is around 16x20 feet, cathedral ceiling. This is for background music / dinner party music only. However, due to a structural beam coming across higher than we expected they will not fit! We need small height as we are limited with a built in cabinet below and the beam above.


These bose speakers actually look like the perfect design for us as the speaker will hang down inside the wall and will be below the top of the bookshelf, but the actual speaker grille will fit.


Does any other manufacturer make such a product? If not, I'm going to buy these in the next 24-48 hours!


Here is a bigger picture of them


I edited the title of this thread - was trying to be cute but didn't want to come across as bashing bose. I own Hales and M&K for most of my speakers, never really considered bose before. I truly appreciate those with experience with these speakers chiming in!

 

[allenhsu]

You mean the Bose 191s? The link you posted took me to the Bose website, but not a specific product. Are the 191s the speakers you are talking about?


Allen

 

[PAP]

Sorry, that original link didn't work. Yes that is the ones - I updated the links

 

[nuke]

I have a pair that I use for rear surrounds. They aren't bad at all.


And yes, it did start a 4 page long flame fest when I said, "hey I bought these and I like them."


They work for me, in part because they are installed in the wall directly behind the sofa. The angled drivers give good dispersion fairly close. The closed chamber behind the wall does give a bit of useable bass, at least for a small speaker. Performance is reasonably good for a small speaker. I've got infinity overture 1's in front, and they work fine together.


For the use you describe, they should do the job just fine.

 

[PAP]

Any sense of whether they will image if placed fairly high - it doesn't look like the tweeters are aimable. The speaker mounting position is probably about 10 feet high and about 1.5 feet above a large builtin bookshelf that will likely reflect some of the sound upwards.

 

[allenhsu]

Ok, Boses 191s it is then...frankly, I'm sure how they are that different that a million other in-wall speakers. Not saying they're bad (I've never heard them..) but I've heard some REALLY good in-wall speakers. Price looks OK though. I know that the Paradigm SAs are quite a bit more ;-)...


But if you want in-wall speakers, there are many, many brands and most of them have paintable grills.


Good luck!!


Allen

 

[PAP]

They are different because a large part of the speaker goes into the wall cavity and hangs down - the actual hole in the drywall is much smaller.


That is my problem - don't have much vertical space to fit the speaker.

 

[allenhsu]

I saw that, but the owners manual doesn't say how big the cut out really is. Do you have that number? The def tech in-walls I have take are 6 x 8 or so and the SA-10Rs from Paradigm are about 6.75inches, diameter.


Allen

 

[Khoa Tran]

Jamo has pretty good cheap inwalls

 

[PAP]

Yes, the web says


"Rectangular cutout: 8-1/16"W x 5-1/2"H"


Keep in mind it's the HEIGHT that is the issue here.


I'm not interested in speakers unless they have a very small cut-out size. That is the key here. This is not about in-wall speakers in general - I have a very specific need to minimize the vertical height. Having said that, having a separate sub is very low on the WAF, so trying to get a speaker with decent bass [again for background music only - this is not a home theater or critical listening setup]


The ones the installer put in when we weren't available (and without my permission!!) are probably about 12" tall. Because of the problem above, they are at 2 different heights - off by about a foot and VERY noticeable. He also installed speakers in my dining room and bathroom without getting my OK. We had run speaker wire into the ceiling but didn't plan on putting the speakers in for a year or so due to money being tight. Now we have who knows what speakers stuck up there and can't very well just close up the holes. Not at all happy with this knuckehead. The great room speakers are at least a foot different in height - you just laugh when you look at it because you just say "WTF was he thinking??"

 

[nuke]

No tweeters. All that is in it are 2, 2.5 inch full range drivers, loaded into a vented chamber for bass. The little speakers are angled, but not aimable.


They will produce a modest amount of bass, suitable for background music. They won't make your chest thump or render explosions in stunning thud power. But will do fine for casual listening to music.


It was the smallest grille size ( aprox 44 sq inches) I found in my shopping. High WAF since they are unobtrusive. The chamber behind the speaker provides a predictable volume and tuning for getting some bass out of them. As opposed to installing an open-back speaker into random wall cavity or ceiling. Only downside is they seem somewhat expensive. All in all I'm happy with them.


Imaging depends on the room. In my experience, early reflections are detrimental to imaging, no matter what speaker you buy. But you only have so much space it seems.


The other option would be just setting a horizontal speaker on top of your bookshelfs. You could probably find a couple of decent center channel speakers that would do the trick too.

 

[JamesCB]

What about something like http://www.phasetech.com/products/ht...frameset.html?


Small cutout with smooth sound. Probably not as much bass as the Bose, but there is a in-wall sub for these.

 

[PAP]

Since the drivers are not adjustable I'm a little concerned.


Let me ask this - is there any reason a standard inwall speaker cannot be mounted on its side (minimizing vertical height)?

 

[nuke]

Presuming that they fit between the studs in your wall, you should be able to mount a speaker sideways. Most of the ones that have any aiming capability only adjust from side to side in the normal mounting position, if you turn them on side, they aim will probably only go up and down instead, which is often not very useful.